My favorite library joke:​A guy walks into the library and says to the librarian, "Can I please have a ham and cheese sandwich?" And the librarian says to him: "Uh, this is a library." And the guy says, "Oh, sorry." And then he whispers, "Can I please have a ham and cheese sandwich?"

I think that the guy in this joke is really on to something: people don't come to the library for just books anymore. They come to photocopy, scan, 3-D print, for job interviews, for story times and singalongs, for Lego club and Minecraft club. They come to vote, to gather supplies after natural disasters, to hang out with friends, play games, create art, buy used books, see theater or music performances, and participate in workshops. Plus, in many libraries nowadays, the "no food or drink" rule has been replaced with the "clean up after yourself" rule.While my school library doesn't serve ham and cheese, we do sell coffee (lids are mandatory!) and we allow snacks.

We are also trying to give our students a taste of what 21st century libraries are offering their patrons. One project that we are doing is producing our own podcast, Hangin' with the Library Lions. Click here to listen to our first episode, "The Twinado."